Sunday, 28 February 2016

I am still having problems with the internet. Maybe I have taken it over quota. I will wait until the new month to see if it makes a difference. There is also a new Windows 10 preview to download, but since I did not click on it to download it, I don't see why it should be creating a problem.

Saturday, 27 February 2016

There is apparently an incompatibility between the new hardware and the old at my current location. Yesterday I ran out of patience and did not climb the stairs to fix it for the second time in 2 hours.

ABC Registered User Advisory

For Friends of the American Botanical Council

AUSTIN, Texas (February 24, 2016) — The American Botanical Council (ABC) has named MediHerb of Warwick, Australia as the recipient of the 2015 ABC Varro E. Tyler Commercial Investment in Phytomedical Research Award. MediHerb, an Integria Healthcare brand, is a leading natural products company that specializes in research-based botanical medicines designed by and for professional health care providers and clinicians.

“This is a great honor and a much-appreciated reward for our many years of research into the phytochemistry, quality, and therapeutic properties of medicinal plants,” said Professor Kerry Bone, co-founder of MediHerb and director of research and development.

The ABC Tyler Award was created to honor one of the most respected scientists in late-20th century herbal medicine and pharmacognosy (the study of medicines of natural origin). Professor Tyler was an early trustee of ABC, dean of the Purdue University College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences for 20 years, and vice president of academic affairs at Purdue. He was the senior author of six editions of the leading textbook in the field, as well as numerous other professional and popular books and articles in the academic literature. Tyler encouraged scientific and product integrity, and envisioned a rational phytomedicinal health care sector that valued the proper evaluation of products’ quality, safety, and efficacy.

“I am a firm believer that herbal therapy (or phytotherapy) should always be adding to its clinical evidence base, but in a way that respects and is compatible with its traditional principles,” said Bone. “Understanding complex modern diseases in their totality and applying subtle but effective, chemically complex interventions underpinned by that knowledge is, to me, the height of rationality. This has always guided our research approach.”

Integria Healthcare invests more than $5 million in research and development each year, according to the company. Echinacea Premium and Kava Forte are two of MediHerb’s most popular clinically studied natural products.

“MediHerb and Integria Healthcare have supported around 25 human clinical trials of MediHerb products, 22 of which have been published in peer-reviewed journals,” said Hans Wohlmuth, PhD, manager of research and development at Integria. “In addition to clinical trials, MediHerb has funded a large number of phytochemistry and in vitro studies on botanicals. Much of this work has focused on quality issues, an area in which MediHerb has always been a leader.”

Both Bone and Wohlmuth are members of the ABC Advisory Board.

“ABC is pleased to recognize MediHerb for its strong commitment to conducting clinical research on its herbal products,” said Mark Blumenthal, ABC’s founder and executive director. “I consider MediHerb to be a prime example of Professor Tyler’s wish that herb and phytomedicinal companies document the efficacy of their products through appropriate clinical trials.”

ABC Chief Science Officer Stefan Gafner, PhD, said, “MediHerb is a company that has invested millions of dollars to back up the benefits of herbal medicine with sound science. This philosophy of testing products in human clinical studies as a basis for rational phytotherapy makes MediHerb a much-deserving awardee.”

The ABC Varro E. Tyler Commercial Investment in Phytomedical Research Award will be presented at the 11th Annual ABC Botanical Celebration and Awards Ceremony on March 10, 2016, in Anaheim, California. The event, for ABC Sponsor Members, occurs during Natural Products Expo West.

DOI

Craft
and industrial manufacture are often seen as dichotomous, with craft
being marginalized during the process of industrialization. We want to
look beyond this position, searching for craft in places where it has
gone unnoticed and where it might have bloomed anew in the interstices
created by industrialization. We explore these questions by studying
Josiah Wedgwood’s innovative craft and experimental practices, developed
through a close reading of his extensive published correspondence. What
we offer is a reinterpretation of Wedgwood’s practices positioned
against the existing historiography, both standard and revisionist. Our
reinterpretation is developed through application of a
theoretical–methodological framework of phenomenological micro-history,
in which craft is thought of primarily as a space that makes possible
what Martin Heidegger called ‘occasioning’.

DOI

Little
attention has been given to the ethics of fashion consumption despite
the often trenchant critique of the fashion industry for intensifying
cycles of production, consumption, and disposal and encouraging in
consumers a superficial sense of identity and the good life through
apparel. In this article, we suggest that although relationships with
clothes are not often explicitly stated as “being ethical,” the capacity
to be ethical can pervade the buying and wearing of clothes. We focus
on the fashion designer, environmental campaigner, and critic of
consumption Vivienne Westwood and those who consume her clothing. Using a
single case study approach (combining interview data, participant
observation, internal and external documents, and literature), we
examine the ethical potential of consuming fashion. We show how ethics
in consumption is a critical engagement with how products such as
clothes are bought and used, and understanding the value of the products
we choose to buy. Consumers find themselves personally implicated with
and caring for a designer’s work and become responsible for reflecting
on their own consumption decisions rather than cheaply satisfying
immediate desires.

Abstract

Understanding
a species' behavioral response to rapid environmental change is an
ongoing challenge in modern conservation. Anthropogenic landscape
modification, or "human footprint," is well documented as a central
cause of large mammal decline and range contractions where the proximal
mechanisms of decline are often contentious. Direct mortality is an
obvious cause; alternatively, human-modified landscapes perceived as
unsuitable by some species may contribute to shifts in space use through
preferential habitat selection. A useful approach to tease these
effects apart is to determine whether behaviors potentially associated
with risk vary with human footprint. We hypothesized wolverine (Gulo gulo)
behaviors vary with different degrees of human footprint. We quantified
metrics of behavior, which we assumed to indicate risk perception, from
photographic images from a large existing camera-trapping dataset
collected to understand wolverine distribution in the Rocky Mountains of
Alberta, Canada. We systematically deployed 164 camera sites across
three study areas covering approximately 24,000 km2, sampled
monthly between December and April (2007-2013). Wolverine behavior
varied markedly across the study areas. Variation in behavior decreased
with increasing human footprint. Increasing human footprint may
constrain potential variation in behavior, through either restricting
behavioral plasticity or individual variation in areas of high human
impact. We hypothesize that behavioral constraints may indicate an
increase in perceived risk in human-modified landscapes. Although
survival is obviously a key contributor to species population decline
and range loss, behavior may also make a significant contribution.

Running for the first time in Canada this year, Science Outside the Lab is an immersive science policy experience for students of science and engineering who want to explore career options outside the lab or students interested in science policy as it functions in Canada, usually at the graduate or post-doctoral level.

Applications will be reviewed starting March 1. The program will run in Ottawa and Montreal May 1-8, 2016. Please go to http://sotlnorth.ca or email info@SOtLnorth.ca for more information.

Do share this announcement with any students (or faculty with students) whom you think may be interested.

Call for Applications: Global Interactions sponsors a number of grant programs for Leiden researchers at various stages in their careers. The next deadline for GI Seed, Breed, Advanced seminar grants is March 15th.

A central idea that unites the diverse research within the Global Interactions research profile is a shift away from a classical Weberian approach, which views historical development (and modernization) as emanating from Europe and ‘the West’, to a truly global approach allowing for multiple perspectives in a multipolar world. This de-centering approach remains principle in our mission to develop and support innovative research on past, present, and emergent global forms and interconnections.

We welcome all applications that seek to further study on all topics and issues concerned with global interactions.

These grants for Leiden faculty offer a flexible scheme that focuses on supporting mini ‘sabbaticals’ tailored to support one or more researchers who situate the study of global interactions as a primary component in their research. While some preference will be given to those who wish to prepare research grant proposals, we will also consider other kinds of projects if they substantially enrich the development of research on global interactions at Leiden University. Proposals will be evaluated primarily in terms of innovative potential, cross-disciplinary integration and academic excellence. Possibilities for support include:

teaching relief for 0.5 to 1.0 term (buy-out or teaching assistants)

a series of intensive expert meetings and workshops

visiting scholars who are primary collaborators in the grant development (up to 1 month tenure)

Requirements and Eligibility

applicants must be Leiden faculty eligible to apply for NWO or ERC grants at any level

projects at the VIDI level and above must involve multidisciplinary research

projects at the VENI level must demonstrate interdiscilinary potential and prioritize the study of global interactions as a primary theme of the research

grantees must give a public presentation on their work midway and/or at the end of their tenure

grantees are expected to attend/participate in other GI activities

Expected Results (will vary depending on length of grant):

a grant proposal to be submitted within the same year

co-authored refereed publication to be submitted within the same year or an edited volume to be submitted the following year

Application ProcedureApplication materials: standard application form + planning scheduleRename the completed application as: last name of the primary applicant_BREEDgrant.Send application materials to lgi@leiden.edu

GI seed money is specifically intended to support and stimulate new collaborative or crossdisciplinary research. Projects may include:

new research related to the study of global interactions

the development of international networks and research partnerships

innovative projects that demonstrate the wider social relevance of global interactions research and approaches

Proposals must demonstrate a cross-regional and/or multi-disciplinary nature. This money cannot be used to support existing research projects. Proposals will be evaluated primarily in terms of innovative potential, cross-disciplinary integration and academic excellence. Grants generally will not exceed €5000.

Requirements and EligibilityApplications are open to all academic faculty and staff, including postdoctoral and doctoral researchers working at Leiden University. Self-funded PhDs are also eligible to apply.

Applications must be submitted jointly by at least two Leiden researchers from at least two different disciplines or regional specialties (one of whom is beyond the doctoral phase).

Grantees are expected to attend/participate in other GI activities.

Funds will be distributed on a reimbursement basis (with receipts and justification) and cannot be used for salary replacement or stipends. Advanced payments are not possible.

Expected Results

Funds must be used within one year of initial grant date.

Grantees must submit a short report on outcomes, future plans, and an accounting of expenditures at the end of grant period.

Application ProcedureApplication materials: standard application form + planning scheduleRename the completed application as: last name of the primary applicant_SEEDgrant.Send application materials to lgi@leiden.edu

Following the prestigious SAR Advanced Seminar model in anthropology, Global Interactions is pleased to announce funding for the GI Advanced Seminars (GIAS). GIAS seeks to promote in-depth communication among scholars from at least two different disciplines, whose research converges on a shared topic concerning global interactions and whose interaction has the potential to provide new insights into critical global issues, assemblages or dynamics.

Competitive proposals will have both strong empirical and theoretical dimensions; that is, they should be anchored in specific cultural or historical research, situate the proposed topic within a global problematic or framework, and engage a broad scholarly literature. Applicants should make a convincing case for the intellectual significance of their projects and their potential contribution to a range of disciplines in the humanities and social sciences.

Each Advanced Seminar consists of 5 to 10 scholars including one or two who serve as chair(s). Depending on the size, the group will meet for three to five days of intense discussion. Seminar papers are circulated amongst participants at least one month prior to the seminar and are discussed during the sessions. These discussions should also include a consideration of recent or emergent innovations in theory and method, an appraisal of crosscutting issues, and a synthesis of ideas. The resulting papers will be submitted to an academic press or journal as a special issue for publication. Following the seminar, the chair is required to submit a 1,500-word summary of the seminar.

GI will provide round-trip coach airfare, lodging, and all meals and a meeting space for up to ten participants. Every effort is made to create an atmosphere in which participants can meet without interruption or distraction. Travel costs within the EU will be reimbursed up to €300 per person and for international flights, up to €2000 per person. Total travel costs cannot exceed €7000.

Requirements and EligibilityApplications are open to all academic faculty and staff, including postdoctoral and doctoral researchers working at Leiden University.

Application procedureThe application must include:

Cover sheet, with the contact details of chair(s).

Abstract, of no more than 200 words

Proposal, not to exceed 3 single-spaced pages

Short bibliography, not to exceed one single-spaced page, of references cited in the proposal

Curriculum vitae, not to exceed four single-spaced pages, for the seminar chair(s) only

Please see more detailed instructions here. Specify, "Advanced Seminar Application" in the subject line and send application materials to lgi@leiden.edu. Only fully completed applications that adhere to GI’s guidelines and deadlines will be considered.

Improved wellbeing and better futures are legal issues as well as political, cultural, sociological, and economic issues. Law is not the only site of political struggle. Imagining better futures is a collective social process. Institutional transformation, law reform, and improved wellbeing demand moving toward moral imaginations focused on gender equality, diversity, and participatory governance.

According to the Canadian Index of Wellbeing national report (CIW, 2011), despite significant increases in economic growth between the years of 1994-2008,'increases in the wellbeing of Canadians were not nearly comparable.' The Index finds that societies with greater inequality have worse health and wellbeing outcomes. At the same time, countries like Canada have responsibility for one of the largest shares of global biocapacity, yet tolerate persistent levels of food insecurity, environmental contamination, and poverty.

Please join us and register now! Contact Megan.Hamilton@queensu.ca to register.*** The Law Commission of Ontario has provided some funding to assist students from other Ontario law schools to attend, so please send this to your friends!

Anyone wanting childcare should mention this request so appropriate arrangements can be made.